Judge Cooke Goes to the 11th Circuit!

Did you know the judiciary is now the "feeblest branch"?

(Shh, don't tell some of our judicial brethren).

But yes, apparently there can be a problem with equal access to the courts when you gut funding and fail to fill judicial vacancies:

This means that the courts are limiting access just when Americans need more adjudication. The recession left a vast legacy of foreclosures, personal and business bankruptcies, debt-collection and credit-card disputes. In Florida in 2009, according to the Washington Economics Group, the backlog in civil courts is costing the state some $9.8 billion in GDP a year, a staggering achievement for a court system that costs just $1.2 billion in its entirety. To make up the funding shortfall, courts are imposing higher filing fees on litigants. This threatens the idea of the equal right to justice, says Rebecca Love Kourlis of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System.

Oh well -- I'm sure the Florida legislature will do the right thing.

In other news, Judge Cooke pays a visit to the 11th Circuit and sits on a very interesting securities fraud case:

We hold that the securities laws prohibit corporate representatives from knowingly peddling material misrepresentations to the public -- regardless of whether the statements introduce a new falsehood to the market or merely confirm misinformation already in the marketplace. In other words, a defendant may be liable for fraudulent statements intentionally made that have the purpose and effect of propping up an already inflated stock price in an efficient market.

Now good luck finding a judge to hear your case -- or just pay Paul Siegal to adjudicate the darn thing.